The saviour has come! For he who loves the world gives his only begotten daughter, who is sweating, to hold the door from crunching Sohee's arm.
"Nelly," says the woman, breathing heavily, "you're hurting her!"
An emerald eye peeks at the side of the door.
And when she sees who was holding their tear, she yelps, backing away from the door.
This allows them to pull Sohee's arm away, putting an end to her suffering.
Nelly mutters something I couldn't quite hear…
She steps back once…
And then another…
Her eyes unfocused
She runs.
Her hurried footsteps are distancing away.
Thuds and crashes followa her.
And then quiet.
She must be in her bed right now, burying herself in a blanket.
Trembling.
Guilt eating her whole.
Knowing her pain is nowhere close to the minute of what Sohee felt just now.
Talking about Sohee…
The pink, teary eyes watch the red spot on her arm and recognize that, as time goes by, it will eventually turn blue or purple, defiling her white, beautiful skin.
Then into something yellow or green.
Probably.
The woman sighs, holding her forehead. Her green eyes, carrying eyebags.
"I'll grab something to deal with that," she says after another bead of tears falls from Sohee's eyes onto her beaten arm.
"I'm okay," Sohee says, sniffing.
"No, this is not okay. What caused this to happen again?"
… Again? This is not the first time something like this happened. What was the cause last time? Because this time I sure know what it is.
The woman turns to me, the culprit behind this event.
She says nothing but I can tell she's holding it back.
"Wait here."
She hurries inside to grab the first aid kits.
While tending to Sohee's injuries, she glance at my direction, "So, are you going to introduce yourself."
"I'm a… tutor."
"The tutor?"
"The. Yes."
"Were you here all this time?"
I give her a yes.
She crunches her face, "Why didn't you help?
"Why didn't you do anything?"
I don't want to answer that.
So I keep my silence, hoping time made her forget she's asking in the first place.
But looks like not saying anything only makes it worse.
She grits her teeth, her nose wrinkles, picking up the smell of me.
Her fist shakes, ready to fly at someone.
If it does, please hit me as hard as inhumane as possible. Make sure it's like a bullet piercing through my head. If I am still breathing, then beat me to death.
"The right thing…" Sohee says through her small sobs, "Sunbae was doing the right thing."
Almost like she's saying that to convince herself.
But there's merit to those words, as proven by the woman taking a deep breath and trying to calm herself.
"No. He could've done something."
"Tammy eonni…"
So Tammy is her name. She refocuses on Sohee, gently grabbing her arm.
"Do you want to come inside? Sohee?"
She thinks… and thinks for a while.
"I have to talk to Nelly," Sohee says.
Tammy nods, "All right. I'll talk to her first, okay?"
"Mn."
And with that, Tammy walks into the room… and closes the door, gently.
Making sure no arm is doing any shenanigans.
Now it is only Sohee and I, back again, in a corridor.
Sohee takes her chance to sob… still quietly.
Respecting the fact this is still an apartment and not everybody has time to feel sympathy.
Maybe there's someplace she can cry.
I want to recommend my room, but maybe that's too much.
She just got hurt.
I don't want to hurt her further.
But I can't just let her be here.
Maybe it's better if we start walking around until we find it.
"Let's go somewhere else, Sohee. It can help."
She nods, sniffing.
"I'm sorry."
I put Sohee's face on my chest.
She deserves my empathy.
—And by doing this, maybe she'd be so in love with you that she forgets your flaws.
—May Sohee love us forever.